Issue 039

July 2008


This dish is a great body cleanser, the kind of roughage that our body needs. We don’t always have to eat meat and vegetables or pasta, and it certainly doesn’t do our body any good eating meat seven days a week. With the hot weather this recipe is perfect for the sunshine. This dish combines lots of colourful foods that are all full of antioxidants. A rule of thumb is: the more colours, the more antioxidants (this applies to fresh food only, not processed!). Serves one person.


INGREDIENTS 

1 x chicken breast

1 x pear (ripe)

1 x fennel head

8 x cherry tomatoes 

1 x red endive (chicory)

1 x white endive (chicory)

100g celeriac

1 x apple

30g sultanas

20ml olive oil (10ml for frying, 10ml for the dressing)

Lemon juice (dash)

Salt and pepper

10g pesto (optional - home made or bought fresh)



METHOD

  1. Season your chicken breast with salt and pepper, place a frying pan on the stove and add olive oil once the pan is hot. Add your chicken breast, being sure to place it away from you to prevent splashes of hot oil. Leave this to cook for four to five minutes on each side.
  2. On a chopping board, pick off the outer leaves of the fennel and endives and discard. Wash and set aside.  
  3. With a sharp knife, peel off the outer skin of the celeriac until it is all white. Then grate into a bowl along with the apples (without peeling them), add the sultanas to this and mix. Now slice the fennel as thin as possible, place this to one side and repeat with the pear. Cut the cherry tomatoes and lightly season to bring out the flavour. 
  4. Remove the chicken from the pan and allow this to rest for a few minutes.
  5. Arrange the leaves on your plate, along with pear, tomatoes and fennel. Add the chicken to the plate along with the sultana and grated celeriac and apple mix. 
  6. Mix the lemon juice with the remaining olive oil in a bowl and dress over the salad.

The pesto is optional; it is just a way to add some flavour. If you want you can try this recipe with fish such as sea bass, snapper or mullet – go crazy! Again, my recipe is only a guideline, so you could add carrots to the celeriac or anything else you can think of. Keep the fruit and veg raw to make the most of the nutritional value.


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